Archive for the 'Conservation' Category

Brad Lancaster, Part Two

Brad Lancaster, Part Two
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Here’s a note from Brad:

“In an average year with 12 inches of rainfall, we harvest over 100,000 gallons of rain a year within the soils of our 1/8-acre site and the surrounding public right-of-way. Yet we (household of 3 people, plus many more using our neighborhood laundromat) use less than 20,000 gallons of municipal/well water a year. This way we give back or infiltrate more water into the community watershed than we take/pump out. That’s key to water sustainability. Give back more than you take.”

Some words to ponder:

Heat Island Effect: is a metropolitan area which is significantly warmer than its surroundings.
Bioremediation: any process that uses microorganisms, fungi, green plants or their enzymes to return the environment altered by contaminants to its original condition.

Brad’s website: harvestingrainwater.com

desertharvesters.org

Brad Lancaster, Part One

Brad Lancaster, Part One
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Brad is like the Willy Wonka of the desert! In Tucson he transformed his urban land into a food producing, wildlife attracting, Sonoran desert island. He has also working to plant over a thousand trees in his neighborhood which act as natural air conditioners (very important in the desert). I’m posting a few videos with brad because I’m fascinated by rainwater harvesting and I’m hoping you are too!

In this video he explains how they harvest rainwater off of their own street.

Way more info on Brad’s Site:

http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/

Andrew Millison

Andrew Millison
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I first met Andrew when I attended Ecosa back in 2005. That was my first exposure to permaculture and rainwater harvesting. Andrew has been living in, and working on, a project in Prescott called the Eco Hood. He also has been working with Dharma Dog Pictures to produce videoblogs about sustainability (which you can get to via andrew’s site: http://www.millisonecological.com/).

Here are some resources for some words in the post:

Watershed: is a region of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, dam, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drainage_basin

Permaculture: is both a lifestyle ethic as well as a design system which utilizes a systems thinking approach to create sustainable human habitats by analyzing and duplicating nature’s patterns (ecology).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture

http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/resources/permaculture-general-works/

Grey Water: Wash water from showers and sinks, excluding toilet and kitchen sink water which is black water.

http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/resources/greywater-resources/

Bioremediation:any process that uses microorganisms, fungi, green plants or their enzymes to return the environment altered by contaminants to its original condition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioremediation

Dynamic Water Harvesting: Water Harvesting+ Permaculture

http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/

sustainable, sustainable route, road trip, roadtrip, green, rain water, rainwater harvest, desert, rain, andrew millison, ecohood, prescott, arizona, alternative, energy, building, permaculture, perma culture, agriculture, drylands

Diane Wilson, Part Two

Diane Wilson, Part Two
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Diane Wilson is the author of An Unreasonable Woman.

Check out part one below if you haven’t already!

Diane Wilson, Part One

Diane Wilson, Part One
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Diane Wilson is the author of “An Unreasonable Woman”. We met up with her in Houston at a book signing and she talked about her incredible story. I read her book on our way to Texas and was floored by the events that took place. It reads like fiction but not an ounce of it is made up. I split this into two parts because I think she’s mesmerizing to listen to and it was hard to edit this one down into anything less.

Info about her book, click here.

Here are some links about Bhopal, India mentioned in the video, certainly worth a look-see:

Wikipedia: Bhopal Disaster

Yes Men, BBC Hoax Video

Yes Men, BBC Hoax Response Video

Also some other Links of interest:

Wikipedia: Dow Chemical Company

Merck Forest

Merck Forest
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I’ve taken many-a-hike at Merk Forest and also stayed in their cabins for a few Vermont winter nights. They are a fun place to visit with kids because of all the farm animals and also a well managed forest and trail system. We spoke with Ken Smith about what they do there and what sustainability means. He talks about sustainability being unrealistic unless it’s reachable by more people. How are these concepts or ideals made ‘attainable’ by a wider population? What do you all think?

The Community Solution

The Community Solution
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We did these interviews with Megan and Pat of The Community Solution during a thunderstorm!

They made a fantastic video about Cuba that you can order off their website.

Cuba – A Peak Oil Country
Cut off from trade by the United States, in 1993 Cuba lost its critical oil imports from the Soviet Union almost overnight. The country had to learn to do without it, and today has lessons for the rest of the world about how it can be done.

Educate yourself about Peak Oil with these links:

Wikipedia: Peak Oil

Video about Peak Oil by Ryan Hodson + Jay Dedman

Post Carbon Institute

Matthew Simmons, Author of “Twilight in the Desert”

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Bring Recycling

Bring Recycling
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Bring Recycling in Eugene, Oregon does way more than meets the eye. They salvage building materials, teach recycling practices, work in the community, and they’re currently building a new recycling and education center.

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Seattle Public Utilities

Seattle Public Utilities
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In Seattle we learned about Natural Drainage Systems!

We tried some new things in this video, tell us what you think!

Thanks to everyone for the recent feedback and encouragement, it helped immensely.

For more info on the government programs started by Seattle Public Utilities to naturally treat storm water:

www.seattle.gov/util/naturalsystems

To find out why stormwater matters and how you can implement natural drainage systems in your own yard check out this site from the University of Maryland:
www.mde.state.md.us/Programs/WaterPrograms/SedimentandStormwater/index.asp

For more info about natural water treatment using living machines, check out John Todd’s website:
http://www.oceanarks.org/

To get info on rainwater harvesting (a great way to reduce stormwater runoff and water your garden), check out Brad Lancaster’s website:
http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/

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Friends of the Chicago River

Friends of the Chicago River
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Hey Folks!

We’re in California!

In the process of planning for the second leg of our trip we’ve come up with some ways to SIMPLIFY our lives and get more of our content up so you can see what the hell we’ve been up to for the past month! More info, more of our faces, and just generally more for you to munch on and ask questions about!

While in Illinois we met with Friends of the Chicago River.

Here are some links if you’re interested in learning more about water pollution and conservation:

Point Source Pollution

Water Pollution

Basics of Conservation Biology

Natural Drainage Systems (more video to come about this)

Bon Apetit!

A+M

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